Abrir, observar y comprender los procesos de memoria

The article explores the development of anthropological studies on memory and perceptions of the recent past in Argentina, focusing on the questions, methodologies, and challenges of this evolving field with regard to memories of state violence, particularly during the last dictatorship. It looks at how anthropology contributes to understanding the production, circulation, and management of collective and individual memories, especially through an ethnographic approach and the importance of addressing silences and institutional practices in the construction of collective memory. The text illustrates four thematic/analytical nuclei: how the field opened up, understanding silences, the ways found to manage the past from public institutions, and the memorial turn with ethnographies on archives, materialities, and social networks.